With revised Value Added Tax (VAT) slabs on tobacco products and cellphone coming into effect from April 1, Gujarat commercial tax officials initiated a stock check on various traders in the state.

The state government had in last budget announced a hike in VAT on tobacco products from 20% to 25% and from 5% to 15% on cellphones.

The drive was to check if the traders were showing the sale of goods made in April as that done in March to evade tax.

During the operation, the officials detected 27 incidents where tobacco traders were selling goods now but billing it on last financial year dates to avoid paying taxes.

The number of similar incidents was 17 in case of cellphones. The department collected around Rs 1.4 crore as taxes from these traders.

"In Ahmedabad alone, we detected 13 such cases of tobacco and 10 of cellphone traders. The stock checking drive was initiated on March 31 and will continue for the next couple of days," said a senior commercial tax official.